Brent – [00:00:00]:
All right. Well, welcome back. Freight nation. We, at Truckstop, really appreciate you giving us your time, your effort and your energy to watch another episode of Freight Nation. We hope that these, podcast recordings have been a great benefit to you. And that’s the whole goal. The whole goal is for you to see something different inside of supply chain or transportation and to see some of the stories and how people got into it, what drives them to be great at it. And, for you to take some motivation and some encouragement to improve where you are inside of transportation and the greater supply chain. So that’s what Freight Nation is about. We’re happy to bring it to you every single episode. I’ve gotten to do a lot of them. I’ve gotten to know a lot of my friends even deeper. And today is no exception. This is one of the kindest people you’re ever going to meet in your entire life. I promise you. So joining me today on freight nation is [00:01:00] Kathy Fulton. She’s executive director of the American Logistics Aid Network. We’re going to tell you a little bit more about that in a minute, but Kathy, thank you so much. I mean, really thank you so much for joining me on Freight Nation today.
Kathy – [00:01:13]:
I am super honored, Brent. Like to hear you call me kind, knowing the type of person you are. It just makes me happy. I’m excited about our conversation.
Brent – [00:01:23]:
Well, me too, me too. Freight Nation. I got to know Kathy, when I started my career at Truckstop back in 2013. I went to a show that I knew nothing about. The CSCMP, which is the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Very, very, astute name for an association. But I got to meet Kathy at one of the social things that they were hosting and we became immediate, instant friends. At least I thought we became instant friends. I probably scared her to death. Cause I was just like, I thought she was the coolest thing ever. And what she did was mostly because of what Alan does as a principal, as a network and association, because I had been through a circumstance where someone like Alan could have, would have helped me too. So I know what it means to receive that type of help from somebody. So, but Kathy, um, you know, it was really, really fun meeting you in 2013. This friendship has continued since then. Just so you know, Freight Nation, full disclosure. We always want to be transparent here. I got invited. I immediately got Truckstop involved in the American logistics aid network, and then, I was invited to be on the board. I’m still on the board at American logistics aid network, also known as Alan. Here’s the word Alan. It’s not a person. It’s the association. But, I’m happy to be a part of it. Proud to be a part of it. Proud to see all the people that are part of it. We’ll talk a lot more about that as we get into this, but first, as we always do at Freight Nation, Kathy, I want you to know what makes her tick, what makes her get out of, you know, get going every day and why she has one of the biggest hearts in the world for helping people through the power of using the supply chain and when they experience a crisis. So Kathy, you, you, you’ve been, you’ve been inside the supply chain a long time. So you start with, when Kathy was a little girl, you always wanted to be in supply chain or was it just something you were like, “Oh, well that might be cool.” So tell, tell, tell us how that started.
Kathy – [00:03:21]:
Oh my gosh. I don’t even think supply chain existed as a career when I was a little kid. You know, I was one of those kids out of college who really had no idea what I wanted to do, honestly. So yeah, like most of us. Right, and so I started working in it, because it was, you know,that time within our world where technology was, was up and coming. Um, and I was doing that for a third party logistics company. Saddle Creek Logistics Services. Yeah.
Brent – [00:03:56]:
Big name.
Kathy – [00:03:56]:
Yeah. I, and, Saddle Creek got involved with American Logistics Aid Network right after Hurricane Katrina, way back in 2005. Oh yeah. Right.
Combined – [00:04:06]:
Yeah.
Kathy – [00:04:07]:
I kind of got voluntold. That I was gonna, I’ll tell you that in a minute, but like, I, don’t see myself as a supply chain person or I never did until, you know, maybe the last few years, um, I was always the IT person.
Brent – [00:04:28]:
you’re just a nerd.
Kathy – [00:04:29]:
I am very much a nerd. You do not want to see the books that are on my reading list. Yeah, I am a nerd. I, and yeah, I’m very nerdy. Um, what is, what’s good with that? But you know what? I think a lot of supply chain people are nerdy or geeky. Because, Supply chain and logistics satisfies that need to problem solve. And I think so many of us have like, and that’s what I, that’s kind of what I love about, you know, the supply chain logistics community is, you know, there’s always something. New to tackle right? Sometimes there are challenges. But sometimes it’s really just about, you know, serving somebody who’s in need. So, yeah, so I kind of fell into supply chain and then in particular falling into this role. At Allen, um, I started to say this a minute ago. So, uh, way back in 2005, we had Hurricane Katrina,and Saddle Creek, you know, was helping to get that off the ground. And the gentleman who was the CEO at Saddle Creek at the time was like, hey, we need somebody to help with this. Some technology stuff. And my boss voluntarily told me, “Hey, you know, you’re going to go do this project.” Like, okay. I have no idea what this is about. You know, I was not a software person. I was really more of a hardware person. But I fell in love with it. Just like problem solving, helping people, you know, I had, quick aside, I had done some mission work with my church a few years before that. And so I knew I had this heart to serve others. But I didn’t really see how to align that with the IT career that I was in. Like, yes, you know, working in logistics and supply chain is important because you feed people and you hydrate people and all those things, but it was tough to see how that connected to my IT world. And then it just blossomed from there. I volunteered to do this project. Served as a volunteer for a couple of years, and served as a loan executive for a couple of years. And then, in 2014, when our founding president, in 2013, was killed, I took over in the leadership role later that the next year.
Brent – [00:07:03]:
So tell us more about that transition. So I want to back up. Yes. You worked for Saddle Creek. On inside the IT department, but something with the leadership at Saddle Creek motivated them to want to do something with giving and helping others. They obviously didn’t just go,” ah, you know, we’ll just find some random person” my guess is they kind of knew you had a heart for helping people just in general, by knowing you. So how did Saddle Creek’s point of view towards that sort of service to others match up with yours.
Kathy – [00:07:45]:
Yeah. Um, you know, it’s Saddle Creek has always been about helping others both within, you know, within their facilities, like their commitment to, um, to the, their own, associates is beyond compare, you know, I’ve worked for a few companies in my, career and, you know, just that commitment. It has to start there, right? You can’t serve the community and not serve your own associates. Right. That just looks bad. So I knew, well, I mean, it’s disingenuous and right. And they’re not, they’re very committed to respecting the individual because one of the top values, right. So I think seeing that they wanted to, to serve the community. They wanted to be involved in this because. Alan is really all about using what we do every day, to help others and I thought, I think Saddle Creek’s Art is a unique way to get involved with that. Why me in particular? Who knows, right? Like maybe, you know, maybe they saw I needed a challenge. I think that was some of it. Um, you know, leadership development. They were, you know, always to this day very good about, Ensuring that their associates have opportunities to learn and grow and do different things and so this was an opportunity to move, you know, kind of out of that managerial role. More to, you know, a leadership, true leadership role. It was just a really phenomenal opportunity. It was scary. Like it was supposed to be a one year commitment. Right, and I didn’t know if I was going to have a job to go back to? Was the person, my number two that we had hired, I mean, we had specifically hired this person to replace me someday when I, when I moved up. And I was like, am I going to miss out on a year of development here and advancement? And it turned out that it really didn’t matter anyway, but I knew that that commitment was still there. Like, I was still meeting with my boss at the time, you know, having those conversations about how’s it going? How’s this, you know, what are you learning from this? This is a really unique opportunity to all of the companies out there. Like if you have an opportunity to allow your employees to go do something else for even a short amount of time, a week, two weeks, you know, six months, let them go to it. I mean, just the things that they will bring back to the company. This is really, really phenomenal. So I’m eternally grateful to South Creek for just putting that trust in me.
Brent – [00:10:35]:
Yeah. So Kathy, what great advice on that one. So Freight Nation, here’s a, here’s a pro tip on this one. If you own a business or you work in a big corporate type business, the most important, most valuable asset that any business has are the people and they walk out the door every day at five o’clock, right? So the idea is, how do you grow them? And so to Kathy’s point, just what she just said is, you know, If they have a passion for something and they may need to take a brief period of time to go learn that, do that, invest in that, invest in them doing it. Because, it will pay off in spades for your corporate entity, because it’ll, it’ll grow them, which allows your business to grow as well. So that’s really, really great advice. So, Kathy, okay I know your heart. So I know you were born this way. This isn’t something that you took a class in school or you read a book and went, “Oh, I think I want to be that way.” You’ve been this way since you probably came onto this planet. So, when you started working, when you made that transition from the IT world, which was really second nature to you because you enjoyed that. So when you made that change to working for a nonprofit that organizes businesses to help in crisis situations, natural disasters, crisis situations, all different types of crisis situations. Well, you said it scared you a little bit. Scare anybody. It also motivated you. How did it? How did that blend together? What got you going?
Kathy – [00:12:13]:
So I was giggling and I’m gonna say this before I tell you what motivated me. But you said you were probably born that way. I did. Yes. You know, I’m fortunate to have that as part of my nature. My parents were incredibly loving people. I have to shout out to my dad specifically. I’m not going to cry, but my dad passed away about three years ago. And, he was the kindest person and treated everyone with incredible generosity of his time and his resources. You know, like I can remember us. Not having a whole lot when I was a kid, and he would still take giant paper bags from our garden to the person who worked with him who had even less, right? So, like, just that, I think nature, you know, and what our parents might have done.
Brent – [00:13:12]:
Yeah. Where did you grow up?
Kathy – [00:13:13]:
I grew up in a little tiny town, uh, called Natchitoches, Louisiana. It’s about halfway between Shreveport and Alexandria. Now everybody knows where Shreveport is because it’s like becoming this big free hub. But, so Natchitoches, it’s actually the oldest town in the Louisiana purchase. So yeah, 1714. I’m proud to be from there. I no longer live there, but I’m proud to be from there. So, what motivated me? The stakes are really high when you work in humanitarian relief, right? And that desire to make sure that people were getting what they needed, after disaster, I mean, it’s incredibly satisfying work, as you can imagine. Helping others is incredibly satisfying but, you know, when I worked in it, if my phone rang at three o’clock in the morning, it was because somebody couldn’t print a ticket and the help desk person didn’t pick up their phone. So they escalated it to me, right? You know, that was, that was typically the nature of, of those 3 am calls. I’m maybe exaggerating a little bit, but there, but if my phone rings at three o’clock in the morning now. That something really bad has to happen, you know? I mean, unfortunately we’re living in a time when those disasters happen, a lot. So I think that that’s probably the biggest motivator. Um, you know, yes, I want to help other people. But I also know that, if not me, then who? Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, yeah. Super cool. So, all right. So I know that it’s super cool. I got another one. This is for the Freight Nation, watchers and listeners. All right. So you went from a role, a defined role at Saddle Creek where you were in your, you know, you’re in your swim lane. You really, know exactly what you need to do to now become an executive at a network of companies through a network of companies that goes and helps others in desperate need. So you became this leader which motivates you, forces you to learn how to manage that role. So for the Freight Nation, watchers and listeners, what is it like to go from a defined role to now a leadership role? Where uh, basically everybody throws you the problem, right? And so talk a little bit about how, what did you learn through those processes of, and granted you were already in the water. You’re already deep in this. So you can’t just jump out. You’re already ready. So what was that like? And what did you learn through those processes that helped you understand how to navigate and do your job with Excel?
Kathy – [00:16:29]:
Yeah, you’re right. You get working in humanitarian relief. You get all kinds of crazy problems and come into an organization that is still really young. It was still trying to figure itself out, trying to establish operational procedures, just trying to figure out who we were as an organization. You know it’s number one, it was a lot of fun to be able to create something. Right. but I would say, I think the number one thing that I learned was I was not alone in it. Right. You know, that network of people, you know, it was, I felt like it was small at the time, but I look back and I go, gosh, I’ve known Brent for 11 years now. I’ve known so and so for, you know, 16 years now. Mm-Hmm.. And I like that ability to just pick up the phone and call somebody and say, “how do I do this?” Right. I think part of that is special and unique to, you know, coming out of Saddle Creek, coming out of that 3rd party warehousing, that network 3rd party logistic services providers. You’re only differentiated on your price and your customer, because, you know, there’s not a lot of secrets in that world. If you’re going to, you know, store something there’s just not a lot of differentiation. And so there’s a great amount of trust that exists within that network between competitors. It was really unique to me to be able to, to see that, you know, outside of my little IT sphere and say, Oh, wow, it doesn’t matter if I’m calling South Creek or I’m calling Port Jersey or I’m calling Kenco or whomever, they are all willing to help with this because it’s bigger. It’s bigger than them. It’s bigger than their business.This is really about our country and about our world. Um, and now I think that’s the biggest thing I learned. It’s like, there are things that people will do when they realize it is, for the greater benefit.
Brent – [00:18:45]:
Wow. That’s a steep learning curve. And, I want to ask you this because you experienced something else too. That’s not something everybody goes through most of the time. someone gets that job because somebody else decided to go take another job somewhere else or they retire. Yours was different. You ended up, uh, stepping into some shoes after there was a tragedy. So do you mind talking about that for a second? And how do you kind of even walk through that? Because part of your responsibility was to help the people that were relating to that person get through, get through a loss as well. So talk about, ’cause this is unique. I’ve not had anybody else on the podcast that assumed leadership in something along the same, ascension lines.
Kathy – [00:19:33]:
Yeah. you know, I didn’t serve in our military, but, people who did have said it, you know, this is what we call a battlefield promotion. Right? Where, you know, you’ve lost your, your leadership. Um, Brent, I tell you, um. So August of 2013, so 11 years ago, Jock Menzies, who was our founding president, uh, who I’d worked beside for, you know, three years really at that I had actually spent the week prior with he and his wife. Spending some time at their house in Annapolis doing, you know, making some visits to them, I mean, like we were crushed. This man was, is still beloved and so whenever I got the call that Saturday,, it was really a moment for me and I’m not gonna get choked up here, but, um, I really, felt like, you know, I have a decision to make and the decision I make is going to shape the course of this organization.
Combined – [00:20:56]:
Right.
Kathy – [00:20:57]:
Do I crawl under the blanket, pull it over my head and say goodbye to Allen? Or do I put on my big girl pants and figure it out?I don’t know if I’ve told this to too many people, but I cried in the shower, getting dressed for work every day for several months.
Brent – [00:21:22]:
I’m sure. Yeah.
Kathy – [00:21:24]:
I did not know if I could do it. Didn’t know if the organization was going to survive. I felt like I didn’t know anything right. You know, and, um, I guess I’m doing something okay. Cause we’re still, we’re still kicking, you know. I think what I learned from all of that was, you’ve always got to be prepared for surprises and you cannot leave your organization in a position where the people who work in it don’t know what to do. If something happens to you, and I’m not saying Jock did that because obviously, you know, we survived, um, but contingency plans, you know, leadership, succession plans, all of those things. Like if I could preach anything to anybody who’s out there listening today, like just make sure it’s taken care of. So, yeah, I, And I guess the other thing I learned is, you know, we can all do more than we think we can, but like, you know, what’s the Winnie the Pooh quote, you know, you’re smarter and stronger than you think, or whatever.
Brent – [00:22:43]:
What a great quote from the pool,
Kathy – [00:22:45]:
At least that’s what the Internet tells me. It’s like some Winnie the Pooh quote or something.
Brent – [00:22:51]:
Yeah, well, Kathy, because I know your heart, I’m not surprised by the decision that you made, because, I know that when you see a struggle or you see a problem or you see a need. I know Kathy’s first reaction. It’s not a flight. It’s a fight. It’s go at it, go hard at it and go try to find the solution to the problem. So, I’m not surprised. And I’m also not surprised that it was emotionally hard because things that are shocking to us, um, come that extra baggage of emotion, that you have to deal with something and you weren’t, if this wasn’t your decision to do, but this is your decision now to make, so, um, I know that, Alan is very appreciative that you made that decision to fight, continue to fight and the thing is, nobody would have probably saw a problem if you just said, I can’t do it. But you’re right about this and Freight Nation, one of the greatest things Kathy just said is you really don’t know your own capacity. You just don’t. You just have to keep stepping into more responsibility and you will grow into it. So that Kathy is great medicine to the Freight Nation listeners. So thank you so much for that. No, seriously. I learned this doing marathons because I had no idea I could run a marathon. And then once I ran the first one, it’s like, Oh. I think I’m going to do another one. And then it was like, of course I can finish a marathon. Right, you would have asked me before that. I said, no, I don’t think so. But so that’s the capacity, the human, the capacity of human nature. And so it’s just an amazing thing.
Kathy – [00:24:33]:
Yeah. And really awesome things happen when you say yes. Right. Even, you know,
Brent – [00:24:39]:
Things happen when you say yes. All right. That is a great quote. Freight Nation, you better be paying attention to this one. This is going to take a lot away from awesome things that happen when you say, I got to write it down or I’ll forget it. All right. So let’s pivot into what it is like. So we’ve got, we’ve got about, 20 minutes left. So I want to talk about, I want to take a few minutes for you to talk about what is it like? Running an organization, leading an organization that you are 100 percent dependent on outside involvement. Now this is big for a nation. You’re going to learn this too because this is really big Kathy because all of your resources, they don’t work for you and you don’t own them. That’s right, so you own, one of the most powerful things is you own the relationship.
Kathy – [00:25:40]:
Yep.
Brent – [00:25:41]:
But talk a little bit about what is it like running an organization? I want you to talk all about Allen, and then how people can get involved. And we’ll close on that one. So what is it like to run an organization that’s fully dependent on every outside resource?
Kathy – [00:25:55]:
Yeah. Well, you kind of said it. It is all about relationships. That is the only thing that Allen possesses is relationships and the trust that we have built with all of our partners. Whether it’s the nonprofit organizations we serve or the businesses who step in to provide the support or the government organizations that we help to have better visibility on what’s happening with supply chains. That trust is an incredible investment of time, right? And I will say this, there are times when, we’re, we’re leaning in and we’re investing into somebody and we never know if it’s going to be a fruit, right? We may spend years developing a relationship and nothing, nothing happens from it, and then we may meet somebody and the next day they do something, you know, as part of the network. I think my takeaway from that is, my expectation is to find a way to be, to establish a relationship that does not feel like a business relationship truly about. He, you know, yes, we may do something together someday, but I want, like you said at the top, you know, like, I want to get to know this person. Like I am truly invested and maybe that’s just me as a person, but I see it from, uh, the, the two young women who are working with us now. Like they love people. They love understanding who people are. They’re curious. They’re very genuine. Right. And I think that that’s so important because sometimes we can get very transactional with our activities. You know, business is business and, you know, we’re going to, we’re going to do all we can to get everything we can out of somebody we’re working with. That’s not who I am. That’s not who I want our organization to be. I want us to serve others. I want us to give back. I want us to pour into people and into their organizations. And I, My belief is that by doing that, it’s going to bear fruit for, for others. It’s not self serving. I collect a salary, but I’m not, you know, racking up, you know, shares of anything other than, right. I’m racking up shares of love in my heart. But, you know, tt is about not, I feel like I want to say it’s about not having expectations of others, but I do have expectations of others. My expectation is that they’re going to be a good person. So I’m going to be a good person to them. Right, they can say no to me. I can call and ask them for something and they can say no to me. I’m still going to love them. I’m still going to have a relationship with them. It’s not going to change anything. Why does that matter? Like I should probably at least spend a little bit of time talking about what the organization does so that people understand all this in context.
Brent – [00:29:21]:
So, but that one is you, you have an organization that’s about, the golden rule, which is you want to do unto others as you would want them to do unto you, which is you would, if you were stuck in a ditch somewhere. You would want your friends to come help you get you out of the ditch, you know, cause that’s what friendships about and sort of Allen is along the same lines, except you’re doing it on a scale in a marketplace that’s trillions of dollars large because you deal with every major association inside of supply chain, you deal with a lot of fringe people that are involved in supply chain. You also have work groups. I mean, let me name a couple of these. The National Academies of Science and Engineering and Medicine, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Research Board, the National Voluntary Associations, Active in Disaster, and the National Emergency Management Association. She works with everybody out there. She is so connected everywhere in this marketplace because of the purpose. Yeah, dude. So that’s what I was talking about, about the purpose of leading an organization that is. Trying to appeal to our human nature as human beings in our service to others.
Kathy – [00:30:29]:
Yeah, it is all about service. I think that, you know, we have this belief that everybody in the world has something that they can bring to this conversation about helping others. Right. But I also have this belief that our industry. Trucking, warehousing, material handling equipment, supply chain expertise, like we are uniquely positioned. We are literally the people who move things around the globe, day in and day out, 24/7, right? If we can do that, if we can, if we can move a widget around the world in a day, we can do anything. To help our fellows, you know, fellow people in need, right? It is about service. It’s about relationships. It’s just about,, you mentioned, Alan doesn’t own any resources, any assets, right? So convincing people to do something that is, you know, it’s going to cost them money to do, right? Move a load or store something in their warehouse or whatever that is. Um, when there’s no tangible benefit to them other than the opportunity to feel like they’ve done a good deed. That only exists if they’ve been, if they believe in their hearts that it’s a good thing to do, right? Alan just gets to be the representation in the channel for something that they’ve already decided they want to do. They want to help, right? We just get to be the channel for that.
Brent – [00:32:17]:
Right. I want to transition now into talking about Alan. You actually can take, and this is so, Freight Nation, as you listen to this and you work for a company, once you think about if there’s a crisis somewhere and it’s in, let’s just say it’s in your state, it’s in your part of the country, it’s in your part of the industry and you feel motivated to help. You need to know how that help can be best administered to people. And this is where Alan comes in. This is what Alan was designed to do is to take those resources and put them to the best. Use and amplitude for the need that, that, that it, it is, it is applied to. So talk, I want you to talk about Alan who’s involved and then, and then, and then how you make that impact.
Kathy – [00:33:05]:
Yeah. So, um, I’ve already told you, you know, 2005, hurricane Katrina,
Brent – [00:33:11]:
Right. Yeah.
Kathy – [00:33:13]:
Well, all of the industry associations kind of watched what happened along the Gulf coast. And they said, why is this happening? We’re logistics people. We’re experts. We can do something about this. So, Alan was formed to really be that industry’s response to disaster to really figure out how to provide, um, logistics, expertise and knowledge and services to support disaster relief efforts. And it’s to support anybody who needs that, right? The nonprofit organizations who respond, the businesses who need help. After a disaster, the government emergency management folks, right? So, we do it in a couple of ways. The most tangible way that people typically see our work is we are helping to bring together nonprofits who are responding to disasters with logistic service providers. Who can donate their services, right? So say, you know, an organization is trying to feed or shelter or hydrate people who’ve been affected by a disaster. Um, but they need it, they just need some transportation support, right? Their budget for whatever reason does not allow them to pay for transportation. They can come to Alan and we go out to our network and say, hey, here’s an opportunity to use your. Network to use your resources for good and businesses step up, right? They see this opportunity, but we’re just making that match, right? We are, we are matchmakers. We allow people to, you know, to figure out how to, how to connect with one another, how to do good. We also provide information. So if there’s a storm out there, we’re making sure that businesses have all the information that they need to prepare themselves, whether that’s things like, I’ll just give you an example. There’s, you know, Hurricane Debbie that’s happening in, in Florida and Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Governors of those states have issued transportation waivers for people who are responding, people who are delivering things. Now that could include trucks that are taking stuff to grocery stores, right? But, we bring that information to the business community, right? So that’s a part of our give back. Hey, we want to make sure that you have this information so that you can keep your business in business. And ultimately, we hope that because your business stays in business, you’re willing to then provide support to those who have been affected,
Brent – [00:35:54]:
right? So tell the Freight Nation, watchers and listeners about like, just name some of the companies, some of the associations and companies that are involved. I do want you to talk about how transportation people can get involved because that’s the lane they serve in, but it’s broader than that. So there’s a name for a few of the associations that come to mind. They’re involved.
Kathy – [00:36:15]:
Yeah, I mean, we cover literally everything across the supply chain. So we’ve already talked about council supply chain management professionals today, right? That’s very broad transportation. You know, we work with T. I. A. Transportation intermediaries association, OIDA, the owner operator independent drivers. ATA and all of the different state trucking associations. So that’s kind of, you know, and then a lot, you know, and MFTA. And like, I know that I’m forgetting people and I’m not looking at a list. So if you’re listening to this and you’re one of our association partners, please forgive me, you guys are all amazing.
Brent – [00:36:51]:
The retail association. Yeah, material handlings association. Yes. First logistics association. You have all these different people that are involved.
Kathy – [00:37:02]:
Everybody, you know, whether they are doing a component of supply chain or supply chain, at large, you know, warehouse logistics. I mentioned, you know, all the 3PL warehouses. IWLA is a huge partner and supporter and has been since the beginning. What I love about that is, um, I can only maintain so many relationships. Those industry associations have lots and lots of relationships. Same with working with Truckstop. You have a network that I would never be able to maintain, right? I mean, not just brand, but Truckstop, you know, yeah, but you do, have quite the network, but it’s important because there’s, you know, I talked about trust, and I think companies build a lot of trust with the industry associations that they decide to participate in so if an industry association had said, “Hey, we want to work with Alan.” That automatically gains us a little bit of trust in that business’s eyes. So the way that we’re working, you know, through our industry associations is sharing those needs, those requests for support with them and saying, who are your members who are in a particular area that may be able and interested to support this. Whenever it’s not just us making that ask, but also that industry association, we see, you know, we see great success with that. So, yeah, we love our association partners. They’re, you know, they’re our lifeblood for sure.
Brent – [00:38:43]:
Yeah, no doubt. So you mentioned, um, starting with Katrina as well. Katrina had a big impact on Truckstop as well. And I know that our founder, Scott Moskrip, on his own nickel sent down a tremendous amount of water hydration supplies, as you like to call it.
Kathy – [00:39:06]:
not just water, right? There’s, there’s, there’s all the aids.
Brent – [00:39:10]:
a lot of water down there. So tell me, since I’m in trucking and transportation, talk a little bit about some of the unique stories that you have some that might come to mind on where trucks helped in a certain situation. And what are a couple stories that come to mind that might be heard?
Kathy – [00:39:26]:
Well, I’m going to share One that’s fairly recent and one that’s a little bit older, because I know it’s special to you. Um, so, uh, you know, I live in central Florida. We have hurricanes all the time. Uh, we had Hurricane Ian that came through in, 2022. And, um, one of our partners is a wonderful nonprofit called Operation Barbecue Relief, and they cook for people, right? They cook barbecue,
Brent – [00:39:52]:
Right. What a great name.
Kathy – [00:39:53]:
It is, and, and so, they set up a cook tent and, you know, have their folks out there, their volunteers out there slinging pork butts or whatever it is that they were cooking that day. But they had a replenishment problem, right? They needed to stay in Port Charlotte longer than they had brought supplies for and so they reached out to us and we helped move things like corn, frozen bread, you know, all of those things. And it was by reaching out to our trucking network who said, “yep, we will” we actually have one trucking partner, and I’m not sure that I can say their name, so I’m not gonna, but, it was a refrigerated, carrier and we said, Hey, can you bring this load of bread down? Or no, actually scratch that. We said, “Hey, we need to borrow a trailer” because they needed frozen, cold storage on site and then we said, “Oh, by the way, if you’re bringing the trailer from wherever, can you stop and pick up this bread?” No problem. Like, like they were wonderful. They’re like, yeah, we can do that. Absolutely, so that’s where, a decent size carrier who made that happen. But we have all the time, smaller carriers who are like, Hey, I want to help just, you know, but it needs to be within certain parameters. We recognize that, like, trucking is expensive. Right? Um, and so. We recognize that there’s only so much people can do, but if they want to do something locally or if they, you know, need to, I don’t know the trucking business as well as I should, even after, you know, 16 years, but, you know, like, if they need to reposition and like, they’re looking to get somewhere, we can, we can help match them. I’ll tell you a 2nd story and this was the Tuscaloosa tornadoes. 2011. Right. I think that you and your family experienced that.
Brent – [00:42:02]:
yeah.
Kathy – [00:42:04]:
Yeah, and there was a shelter that had gotten more people than they anticipated, that tornado.
Brent – [00:42:13]:
a lot of people displaced.
Kathy – [00:42:16]:
Yeah. A lot of people. There was someone who was donating some food, but they didn’t have the transportation to cover it. And so we reached out to this company and they’re like, yes, sure. Of course. No problem. We will deliver that and within 12 hours it was picked up and delivered. And, you know, the people in that shelter got a hot meal that night. So afterwards we’re doing this write up about the company and about the truck driver. She said, yeah, I wanted to help. I lost my house in that tornado. And, I mean, even to this day, I get chills when I think about that. Like she lost her house and her company said, “Hey, You don’t need to work right now, but here’s an opportunity to give back. And she did, that just tells me what our industry is all about. We want to give back. We want to help people. Um, and we want to feel useful. Right, I think disaster takes away a lot of our power, takes away a lot of our agency as humans, like, we feel helpless, right? So giving this particular driver an opportunity to do something that was going to help her community, you know, just makes a big impact.
Brent – [00:43:53]:
It sure does. Wow, Kathy, man, what great stories. Thank you for talking about your journey and your heart. How it got changed and you just ran straight into the fight to help people. And what an inspiration you are. So Freight Nation, I hope that you took away the inspiration that I’ve gotten to see and be first hand with for the last over a decade with Kathy, so how do they get in touch with Alan to be involved because, because the encouragement that I give to you in Freight Nation, I give every one of you, which is don’t sit, don’t sit on the sidelines. You’ve got something and Kathy said this, “you’ve got something you can bring to help with whether it’s a, whether it’s goods, whether it’s services. or whether it’s just encouragement for others.” So Kathy, how can they get in touch with Alan?
Kathy – [00:44:47]:
Yeah, just the best way is on our website, alanaid. org, A L A N A I D.O R G. Um, there will be a banner for whatever current disaster is out there happening right now, or a link. Just click on that. It will tell you what is needed right now. So you can go find out how to donate your transportation or equipment or resources there. How to donate financially. We are a nonprofit, a 501 C three. So donations are tax deductible. We’re always looking for that. And then we’re always looking for people who are willing to share their expertise to help make our nonprofit partners, better shippers, smarter with their logistics, so donate, volunteer, or give in kind.
Brent – [00:45:33]:
Yeah. So Freight Nation. If you want, if you feel compelled to be a part of something and you want it to be 2x, 3x, 4x better than you could do by yourself, you have resources out there through the American Logistics Aid Network and Kathy Fulton to make that happen. So become a part of this, come be a part of helping others and doing what trucking and transportation always does, which is we always run into the fight to help every single time, just like Kathy did back in the day. All right. Well, Kathy, thanks again for being a part of this. I really appreciate you being on the show today.
Kathy – [00:46:05]:
Thanks for it.
Brent – [00:46:06]:
Oh, you’re so welcome. All right. Freight nation. That’s a wrap. This is, like, you know, you know, the end of my freight nation. I always have a nice little statement in my statement that, it means more today than ever, which is work hard, be kind and stay humble. Freight Nation. Thanks a lot for watching and listening. We’ll catch you next time.
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